UPMC Senior Communities

Third Annual Celebrating Senior Champions Benefit Dinner and Auction

UPMC Senior Services is proud to present the third annual Celebrating Senior Champions benefit dinner and auction on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011 at the Circuit Center and Ballroom on Pittsburgh's South Side. In partnership with the Aging Institute of UPMC Senior Services and the Division of Geriatric Medicine of the University of Pittsburgh, the event recognizes extraordinary individuals and groups who contribute their time and energies to championing seniors throughout western Pennsylvania. The focus of this year’s event is promoting and celebrating healthy aging, healthy living, and a healthy community.

View the event invitation now. (PDF)

2011 Champions

Grand Champion, Individual Stephanie Studenski, MD, will be honored as Grand Champion in the individual category for her multidisciplinary work with seniors, among many other accomplishments. Dr. Studenski not only is a professor of medicine, nursing, public health and allied sciences, but also is heavily involved in balance and mobility research. Recently, Dr. Studenski was appointed to the prestigious Advisory Council of the National Institute on Aging, and she currently leads one of the 12 NIA-funded Claude Pepper Centers of Excellence in Aging Research.
Grand Champion, Group Mildred Morrison will be honored as the Grand Champion in the organization category for her work as the administrator of the Allegheny County Agency on Aging. Ms. Morrison is a graduate of Chatham University and holds a master's degree in public management from Carnegie Mellon University. The Area Agency on Aging (AAA)  administers community-based services for more than 280,000 persons age 60 and older throughout Allegheny County, participates in community planning about aging concerns, and is an advocate for mature adults.
Good Neighbor Margaret McCoy, one of the four founders of Sherwood Oaks, a UPMC Senior Living Community, is the recipient of the Good Neighbor Award. Mrs. McCoy and her three partners believed there to be a growing need for independent care in the later years of life. Presenting their case at local events, churches, and meetings, Mrs. McCoy, Martha Leonard, Sally Dewees, and Jean Locke convinced others of the growing need for independent care, and later opened Sherwood Oaks on Sept. 1, 1982.
Caregiver Champions Ellen Parkes and James Collie will be named Caregiver Champions for their extraordinary efforts to care for a frail loved one. Ellen and Jim were full-time caregivers for their homebound spouses, and then provided almost daily support when their spouses required skilled care at Canterbury Place . Ellen and Jim met, shared their stories, and offered each other emotional support through difficult times. After nearly a decade as dedicated caregivers and the death of their spouses, the two were married in November 2010, vowing to take care of each other in sickness and health.

Event Information

The Celebrating Senior Champions benefit dinner and auction supports the UPMC Senior Communities Benevolent Care Program in its efforts to provide financial assistance and other support services to eligible seniors living in one of UPMC’s 17 retirement communities, and supports research at the University of Pittsburgh Division of Geriatric Medicine to discover new methods of improving the quality of life of people as they age, and to pass along these best practices to the next generation of physicians.

Larry Richert of KDKA will be the emcee for the evening with entertainment provided by Winnie Flynn & Company. Lead sponsors for Celebrating Senior Champions Benefit Dinner and Auction are Lamar Advertising and UPMC for Life.

For  more details about sponsorships and tickets, contact Peggy VanHorn at 412-622-9239 or vanhornpa@upmc.edu.

*Honored posthumously